Rigid Devotion
by sofarsogood99901
Summary: "Yes, I love Jason Brody. Why do you care?" Citra spit in my face tightening the bonds on my wrist. "Because he's MINE!" She screeched at me, I chuckled. If only she knew... Jason/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

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"I hate jungles!" I moan pushing past the tall grass that keeps making me scratch my legs and arms. My friends laugh at me, and I glare at them.

"Oh, would you calm down Lindelihle. Well be at the village soon, then you can rub ointment on your legs." My best friend Imose said while tying her curly dark hair into a pony tail.

"Why are we even getting so many supplies? Are we running low or something?" I ask. You wouldn't really call Amanaki village rich or a place with a lot of supplies to spare. The only thing we really have are weapons for the soldiers, and all they do is shoot at the Rakyat which either gets them killed or injured and neither are good.

"Lindelihle, did you even listen to Dennis when he told us about the man who escaped Vaas?" Fabu are other companion said in a exasperated tone. I gasped at that. _No one _escapes the Vaas alive, was this man some sort of superhero? Imose laughed at my expression then she cut off a green leaf from one of the plants and put it in her bag.

"Lindelihle, Dennis gave the whole village a speech about how a warrior from the gods have given us someone to fight. " Imose said while doing a impersonation of Dennis. "I'm at least happy that we now a chance against Vaas."

"But who gets away from Vass Imose? No one. Doesn't that seem a little fishy to you?" I question her thinking about the whole situation to myself. No one gets away from Vaas unless he lets you, which he never does so how does this man out of all people get away? I i'll find out soon enough.

* * *

When we made it back to the village there were red lantern lights set up hanging on the houses, and food was covering the tables while people were putting up more things that even I couldn't recognize. Then I saw my mother coming up to me with a worried look on her face. When she reached me I finally spoke up.

"What's wrong mama? Has something happened?"

"No, nothing has happened daughter, can't I be worried about my own child?" She says relief on her face. " You need to get your supplies to Jamar, it seems like your friends already have." I look around and Imose and Fabu have left me. I hurry running to find Jamar before the party starts, after about 30 minutes of looking for him I see him standing behind a house mixing leaves together.

"Jamar! I've finally found you, have you been hiding?" I said handing him my bag. He took out the contents and begin sorting through them while he spoke.

"Lindelihle, I would never hide from you, but you already know that. But you should get ready before the party starts." I could tell he was trying to get rid of me so I left him and went to my house. It was a small little house with blue lights instead of red covering the top and a bike that was a gift from my late father. He died fighting the Rakyat, i'll never forget the day my mother told me the news. Shaking my head trying to forget the memories I went into my tiny room and picked out some black shorts and a pale dressy top with designs on the top.

I went into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror I had short dark brown hair that only went to my chin and my coffee brown skin was in stark contrast with my green eyes that were a trait from my father, I was a little bigger than most girls not by a lot. But you could certainly tell when I was put next to one of my friends. Most of the time it didn't bother me but sometimes I felt inadequate around them, then my friends always seem to notice and how to make me feel better.

After finishing my hair and using what little make-up I have. I leave out the house and the party was already starting, people were dancing and laughing, and I've never seen my village this happy and it was all because of some guy. I saw someone walking out of Dennis's house and he was not what I was expecting. I saw him before he saw me, it really wasn't that hard to pick him out of the crowd when I knew everyone here since I was a kid. He was handsome I guess, his hair was sticking up in different directions and he had a slight build. He looked kind of unstable on his feet, and while he was following Dennis ,Fabu was eyeing him as she went over to where Imose was I saw them make eye contact. I felt heat rush up to my face at that, but I let it go. Dennis handed him some money from the looks of it and walked away, the man stopped for a second taking at look at his surroundings before walking into the gun shop.

I walked over to where Imose and Fabu where talking which happened to be right where the shop was, I felt a little giddy at the thought being near him but I pushed it away. Fabu had a look of pure lust while she was gazing at the shop even though the door was closed.

"I would fuck him so hard, Imose do you think he likes me? Do you think he;s cute" There was a threat in Fabu's voice while she was twirling her hair between her finger tips, Imose unfazed gave a shrug. When she saw me she gave me a small hug, while Fabu was still in a trance.

"I don't know Fabu but he looks scared shitless right now, so I would at least lay off him and give him some time until he's more stable." She said as if it was be obvious. Fabu licked her lips as he walked out of the shop paying no attention to what Imose said.

Now finally getting a closer look at him I noticed he had forest green eyes that almost looked brown. He noticed me looking and gave me a smile so small I hardly caught it, in return I gave him a small smile of my own. Then I noticed that he now had gun's on him instead of nothing but what he came out with, I wasn't surprised but before I could muster up the courage to talk to him Dennis came and took him away.

"Well, now that I've gotten a good look at him I'll say he cute but that all I'm giving you Fabu." Imose said with a grin on her face. Fabu was still looking appreciatively a the man's backside but I didn't care at the moment. I just wanted to see him again.

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**There was the first chapter I'm hoping to have more put by the end of this week. I would love it if you guys le a review it helps me keep gong. I own nothing but Lindelihle and her friends.**

**Here are the names if you didn't know hoe to pronounce them.**

**-LINDELIHLE (lehn-deh-lee-leh)**

**-FABU (fah-boo)**

**-IMOSE ( ee-moh-seh)**


	2. Chapter 2

"Where do you think there going?" I asked out loud. No one was answering me. The party was still going on and I was getting bored. All these parties were fun and everything, but right now I was tired. Fabu wandered off to go dance, so that left just me and Imose alone, still near the gun shop. I tried to make conversation with Imose. "So Imose, where's Amar?" Amar was her longtime boyfriend and he just recently proposed to her a couple days ago.

"He's of with those fucking solider's again. But like I tell him every time if he comes back hurt, I'm not helping him get better so he can waste it again." Imose never did like Amar being in the fight against Vaas and his people, but then again neither did I.

"Imose, the fighting will be over some day, just hold on to that." I was trying to give her a little hope to hold onto for tomorrow. I tried repeating my question from earlier. "Do you know where Dennis and that guy went?"

"Why are you interested in him too?" Imose gave me a knowing grin. "Its alright if you are, but don't go chasing after him. It will bring only trouble." She was worried I would run off with him? I mean he's cute but I wouldn't do that. After talking to Imose for about and hour I said my goodbyes and went home. My mother was already asleep in her room, I could tell from the snoring in her room. I walked down the small hallway and entered my room, it was small. The only thing taking up space was really my bed and dresser. I had small colorful drapes put over the single window, and couple shoes strewn about the room.

I collapsed on the bed snuggling under the covers, think about those green eyes that were almost brown from a distance if you paid attention. Shaking the thought out of my head, I moved on to other thoughts about when father was alive. The memories of his sweet singing and bed time stories lulling me to sleep.

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In the middle of night the screams of victory woke me up. I still had my outfit on from last night so I just ran outside. I was really lucky that I lived in this part of the world the weather was either hot, really hot, or raining. I noticed that some of the solider's were _really_ happy, like they were about o combust with happiness. Amar dragged a sleepy Imose about of their little house and kissed her fully on the lips, then she slapped him for going off into battle again. After about a couple minute of basking in the unusual happiness, I spotted the man I saw the other day he looked paler than usual and he had a look of pure anguish on his face. I wondered what could have happened to a person to make them have that look on their face.

He walked far enough away that he was now outside the village, I was slowly following him in the thick bushes and trees even though I hated them with a passion. I followed him as stealthily as I could until I heard him speak.

"I know your there." His voice wasn't as deep or as scary as I thought it would be. Suddenly out in the open I stepped out of the bushes and walked out into the open.

"Hi." I said lamely. He cracked a smile. He was tall, lean and definitely fit. His arms were cut and he had a tattoo band wrapping around his upper arm. His face was kind, but there was a certain roughness to it. He had facial hair, uncut and untamed, but it was just starting to grow around his jawline and around his upper lip. I could also see a boyish hint in his face. There was something young about him. Maybe it was the hair? That impressive hair that stood, spiked up in all directions. How did he get his hair to be shaped like that? It was fucking sexy. They say that one's eyes are the key to their soul. He was intriguing at the least.

"Hi there." He quickly waved his hand and retreated. I looked all over the forest. How could I approach him, or even talk to him without scaring him. He seemed frightened and almost alone.

"Are you lost?" I threw out a question that would seem normal to ask a person who had just escaped Vaas, and took out the radio tower.

He laughed very weakly. "Ha, no. Are you lost?" He asked in a joking manner. I straightened, feeling more comfortable with talking to him. I would hate to say something sensitive to him.

"Oh, me? Uh...no." I wrung my hands behind my back and blushed.

"Then why are you out here?" He seemed genuinely curious about my intentions out here.

"I..um. I followed you." I stared at the ground in embarrassment.

"Oh." He chuckled. "My name's Jason Brody." He walked over to me and stuck out his arm to shake my hand. For a second, my mind drew a blank. What should I do?

"My name is Lindelihle." I said shyly. I could feel the heat on my face.

"Oh, so like...L-Linde-lindeheely?" He struggled to pronounce my name. I became slightly aggravated. I took great pride in my name. It was like my personality, and if someone couldn't pronounce or understand my name, then I took that as they didn't understand my personality, or who I was.

"No. Linda...lee...la." I explained to him the correct pronunciation in a stern voice.

"Oh, oops. My bad. Mind if I call you Lynn?" He compromised a name that he could call. It bugged me that he would be the only one not calling me by my name that was given, but I think I might like him enough to let him call me...Lynn. I shuddered at the proposition, but agreed.

"Fine." I nodded.

"Okay...Lynn." He smirked at me. I blushed.

Was this the start of something or nothing?


	3. First Hunt

**Chapter 3**

Our awkward introduction didn't leave me with much to follow up on. Jason stared at me, ruffling a grubby hand through his hair. The there was a mixture of urgency and yet hesitancy in his eyes. Then he spluttered it out, saying it so quickly I couldn't understand him at first. Why would Dennis send someone who doesn't know anything about survival in the wild, out in Rook Islands? Telling him to 'learn the jungle'. You can't just 'learn the jungle' in a day. Especially with a person like, him. I don't know what Dennis was thinking.

With the look of confusion and array of other emotions on Jason's face he didn't know either. I paused, looking back in to his eyes. Throwing out my hand, I took his hand quickly. When I made contact with his skin, he jumped a bit at the contact. I let go.

Stupid, stupid.

Then, without another thought, I felt his fingers lace with mine. It wasn't romantic. His longing was for some connection, some stability. We were walking to a small car that was just outside the village. I stole glances at him, as he looked forward. His eyes were sunken, like he's been crying. The skin around his eyes was pink – flushed and blotchy. It dawned on me that he's been through something and I didn't even know a piece of it.

When we reached the car I let go of his hand, and I immediately missed the warmth that it brought. Taking my eyes off the dirt road, I looked down at my hand. The skin was still tingling. The ride to the clearing was short and silent, aside from my brief instructions. Bringing the car to a rough stop, Jason got out of the car and I hastily got out. We started to walk.

But he had just stopped, and looked down on the ground beneath him and sat. It looked as if he was in deep thought and I didn't want to break it in fear that he might react in a way that I couldn't handle. All I knew was that he had escaped Vaas. The more I thought about it, the more trepidation I felt about Jason's state. However, the silence was also eating at me.

"So, you want to learn the jungle Jason?" I smirked at him, attempting to not only calm him but also my nerves. In return he gave a small smile; it did not reach his eyes. "Come with me and I'll show you."

Then I helped him up to his feet and started walking side by side. I scanned the area for a good spot and went there, so I could show him the basics. When we finally reached it I turned to him.

"First, you're going to find plants that will help you make medicine. Look for plants with green leaves, red leaves, and blue leaves. When you find then come back to me." I was trying to be as vague as I could and by the look on his face it worked. He didn't say a word and stared scanning the area for the leaves. I walked over to a tree that had a good bit of shade and sat under it. Watching him inspect the plants was a little amusing when he got frustrated and went somewhere else.

I lay down and gazed up at the clouds trying to find shapes in them, it was nice weather. The sun was shinning, but it wasn't too hot as usual. The wind was blowing gently and pretty soon I just lost my self in the endless sky of blue. I don't know how long I just watching the cloud and feeling at peace, while Jason worked. But when I heard multiple footsteps rushing towards me, I looked up thinking it was Jason, but it was a boar rushing towards me!

I was a little slow in backing away and started panicking, then suddenly in a flash I saw a figure land on the boar with unreal grace and sink a blade into the boar mercilessly.

"I've got you." I heard him murmur to the now dead boar.

I scrambled up rushing to see who saved me when I saw Jason's warm eyes look up to me. They looked a little crazed and exhilarated from what happened just now, but quickly changed to worry in a second.

"Are you alright? I found all the plants and was coming back to bring them to you when I saw the boar charging you." He paused, thinking about it. " I don't know this feeling just came over me to attack it." I looked up at him, knowing that he never killed like this. There was blood all over chest staining clothes as he tried to wipe his now shaking hands on his shirt, I pulled out a spare cloth from my back pocket and pushed it into his hands. He started wipe away the excess blood.

"Jason, it was my fault for being so careless in the jungle," I started and paused, embarrassed about my carelessness. "I wasn't thinking. Thank you for saving me." My words fell short, so I let my smile grow to show my gratefulness.

"Lynn, it's fine let's just get you back to the village. I have to meet Dennis soon anyway." He led me back to the car.

On the way back I quizzed him on the plants making sure he knew which was which, turns out he knew a little bit about the plants he'd found. When I got out of the car after we reached the village, I turned to say goodbye to him. But he spoke up first.

"T-Thank you for what you've taught me, Lynn. I couldn't have done it without you, your-"I cut of his blabbering.

"Jason," I started. "I think you would have done good without me anyway." He looked genuinely happy with his progress and I was glad for him. "Your welcome Jason, and if you need help with anything else know that I will help you." I saw him smile at that.

"At least I know that one person on the island isn't out to either kill me or use me," he said chuckling, a combination of humor and relief. Silence once again followed and I got a sense that we weren't going to be seeing each other for a while. I leaned forward and embraced him. He stiffened momentarily, but hugged me back.

"Good luck, Jason," I said on impulse, not knowing the full meaning of my words. I felt him let go and I turned to walk back to village without another glance, giving my attention to the village's colorful lights in the distance.

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**I would live to leave a special thanks to my awesome beta jazz-sparks for helping me in this story. Please leave a review and let me know what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

A couple weeks passed since I last saw Jason, and life was the same as before he came. Amakiat was a small village, and our army was smaller. Word got around fast however, I thought. I would hear something casual about Jason from one of the soldiers, but there was little word or gossip that was solid. The days continued to pass and I only heard about the shipments coming in for the soldiers. I didn't hear anything Jason. He was fading from my mind becoming only a memory.

My life had picked up a little and I now had a job at the gun shop in our village, a lot of shipments were now coming in they weren't supplies like food. But were weapon's. It helped pay for the necessities and little extra for my mom and I could finally buy some chocolate! There were days I had trouble handling going to work; it reminded me of the army. That brought up my father.

I was sitting about ten minutes away from the village watching the sunset. I ran my fingers through the rich dirt getting it into my finger nails. For a time, I was engulfed in the peace around me. Eventually my mind wandered to my father. Thinking about all the trips he would take me on when he had time away from the conflict with the pirates. But most of all I remember his smile, many people said I smiled just like him. It made me feel better knowing that I still had something from him but sometimes it just wasn't enough.

I felt my lungs constricting making it harder to breathe, I tried to stuck in what ever I could but nothing was going in. I was entirely overwhelmed, thoughts of the past and my father pulsing through my mind. Ever since that_ day_, I've never been able to think about him without getting these... I don't what they are. With a shaky hand, I put it against the tree for some kind of support. It felt like I was being ripped open, leaving my heart out to bear the pain. Before I could control my thoughts I started reliving the memory.

_I was making rounds around the village, saying hello to neighbors and checking up on friends. I was sitting with Imose talking about Amar when my tear-streaked mother ran up to me. She grabbed me, taking me away from Imose. I didn't know why her grip was so hard or why she wouldn't look me in the eye at the time, but I knew something was wrong._

_She was trying to cover me as we walked by the soldiers who were huddled together almost as if they were shielding us from something. That surprised me because my father was always with the soldiers in that very same spot waiting for me. I pushed my mother's hold off me, running over to see my father hastily. As I past the soldiers, they saw me and looked over to the leader of their faction for orders._

_"Should we let her by?" One of the men questioned the leader._

_"No! Its already enough that her mother is grieving, do you really want to add a child to that?" Another man pointed out forcefully. Something was wrong. From the atmosphere surrounding them, it was doleful. The leader looked at both of the soldiers and then look into my pleading eyes. A look of understanding passed through them._

_"Let her see him," the leader said. It was those four words that changed me forever._

I shook myself out of the memory before it consumed me and looked around the moonless sky. The only thing that seemed to be keeping my company were the scintillating stars that lay out in the inky night sky. Closing my eyes again and evening out my breathing, I took my weight off the tree. With slowly steadying feet, I made my way back to the village.

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Whilst at a quiet day at work, an older and heavily scarred man walked in. He talked for a bit and how he had his 'fair share of fights in life'. He was unnerving. Whenever he smiled, it showed me his stretched and thin red lips with missing yellow teeth. Whilst taller then me, he was short in comparison to the men of the village. And when my back was turned, I could feel his beady eyes leering at me. He said he was looking an Silent MP5, whatever that is. He asked me the same question since he came, and I'm starting to think that he was doing it on purpose.

"Sir, I've told you that we have only grenades, and these rocket launchers right now. If you want something else you'll have to wait until the next shipment." He nodded absentmindedly and I could tell he wasn't listening to what I was saying, he started to walk to the other side of the room. While he was looking at something it gave me time to think, I was still a little agitated about last night and how I handled it. I thought I was tougher than that. Its been years since that day and my heart still aches.

The old man walks into my personal space and cups my face into his hands, his thumb stroking my cheek. I slap his hand away; I was getting impatient with this creepy man. My nerves and anger were buzzing, making me feel vaguely dizzy. With the slow day, there had been little people around. He licked his lips, leering at me for what seemed liked the thousandth time.

"I know what I want and I don't really have the patience to wait for it." He started to step closer covering what little distance was left between us. Attempting to side step him, I failed miserably by tripping over his feet and landing in a heap. My breath quickened when I felt his hands gripping my waist roughly, I started squirming under his grip and he only laughed and straddled my thighs.

His hands began to undue what they could and soon I was bare waist below. My heart was pumping madly. One of his hands were groping around my midsection, and my heart hammered in my chest. I finally took in what was happening. With a swing of my leg, I tried my best to hurt him. He just laughed and I could feel his rotten breath on my neck, the moisture sinking in to my skin as he unbuckled his pants.

I'll never tell anyone about what happened that day.

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**I would like to thank my beta jazz for helping me again. Please leave a review, it makes my day ten times brighter.**


	5. Chapter 5

_2 Weeks Later_

I was learning to cope with what happened to me, it wasn't easy when no one else knew. I remember lying in the foetal position for hours after he left me, alone in the small shack. I wasn't surprised that no one came; I rarely got any visitors for weapons. When I finally got enough courage to get up and put my clothes on, I noticed what was on my legs. There was semen splattered all over the bottom of my legs mixed with some of my fluids. I remembered what he said when he was close to his climax, panting over me with a sheen of sweat covering his hairy chest.

_"F-feel...so good..." he pulled himself out of me momentarily." don't want...any little problems...running...around do we?" It was rhetorical, but I couldn't have answered him regardless._

Shaking my head, I tried to clear it of any thing related to that day. As I sat crossed legged under the bedcovers in my room, I tried to think of what to do today. My room was small and I needed to get out. I hadn't seen Imose in a few days. That didn't really shock me however - Amar was back. And when Amar was back, Imose was all over him. I was far from her thoughts. With a push of the bedcovers, I got up to greet my mother. I'd heard her shuffling around earlier, so she should still be in the house.

Walking through the short small cramped hallway I saw my mother sitting down on the chair with Adede, an older woman who my mother grew up with. Adede has long grey hair that went down to her back and curled at the ends. My mother was laughing at something she said when I walked into the room.

All of the laughter stopped.

I had a feeling it was because of my mother. The day after I was assaulted my mother immediately sensed that something was wrong. But she never questioned me about it, knowing it would start an argument. She said I was always like my father in that way, pushing anyone away that tried to help me deal with my problems. I just don't think anyone should help me with my own problems, they are mine right?

My mother stood up and walked over to me, she was pretty short for a woman standing at about 4'9, in contrast to my height of 5'8. Her hair was in a braid today as it always has been, still as long as ever it hangs down to her lower back. I look up and take her face in, she wearing her warm smile always inviting and never judging.

"So you are finally up, my girl. I thought you'd never wake up, for the past few days you've been sleeping like a pile of hay." I smile at her attempts to make me happy. She see's my small smile and in turn she pulls me into her embrace making the pain of what happened just a little lighter than before. I hear Ms. Adede hold in a little cough and it breaks our little private moment. My mother turns to Ms. Adede. "Adede, you remember my little Lindelihle don't you?" Adede turned and gave me a small smile.

"She not so little anymore Nadi, I can see she's grown into a fine young woman. Strong. Am I right Lindelihle?" Strong? I don't think there's anything strong about a girl who let her self get raped in the middle of the day. But I put my own thoughts aside and answer her with a fake reply.

"Yes, it takes a strong woman to live on these islands. Mama, I'm going to see Imose I'll be back later." I turn back to miss Adede." It was nice seeing you miss Adede." She nods her good bye to me as I make my leave.

When I finally make it outside I see that the party lights are_still_up! The party was over two months ago, I was seriously beginning to worry about how much money we actually had in our little village to spare. Anyway I headed over to Imose's house to catch up with her, when someone bumped into me rather forcefully. I stumbled over a rock and fell on my butt, when I looked up I saw Fabu. She was standing right behind the sun so it covered my eyes, but Fabu was a sight to see.

Her shoulder length hair was in two ponytails braided together, giving her a child-like look, despite her rather crude manner. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave me an impatient look, probably from the way I just zoned out on her face just now. I shook my head slowly getting out of my daze and held out my hand for her to take. She rolled her eyes at me and reluctantly took my hand, her firm hold lifting me up easily. I never really though much about Fabu's attitude it was just who she is. Since we were little she was always harder than the rest of us, not trusting as easily and not as forgiving.

"Did you want something Fabu? I'm going to Imose and I have other things to do." I didn't mean for my tone to come out harsh, but I wasn't really in the mood to play games with her...or anyone for that matter. She still looked unfazed by my words.

"Your not going to see Imose today, because we're going out. I found this little cave near the ocean, I haven't looked into it or anything yet so this should be exciting." Her body posture was serious but her dark brown eyes were full of mischief. Okay...that put me little off guard, Fabu wasn't the type of girl to just jump into things she likes to think. I remember when we were little and whenever we found a new type of rock or bug...pretty much anything she would take and look at every angle trying to learn something new.

"Fabu, this isn't like you, did you check it out? When did you find it?"

"Could you please stop with all the questions! I'm taking you out because you've been mopey the last couple weeks and I don't like it." She was looking me dead in the eyes, never wavering. Sometimes I wish I could be more like her; strong, pretty, adventurous. I tried to shove those thoughts away, thinking that maybe this is good for me, I looked up into her dark eyes.

"Alright, lets go see this cave of yours."


	6. Chapter 6

Fabu made no noise as she moved with a natural grace through the forest, covering ground quickly with her long legs. We left the village as fast as we could so no one would notice our absence and panic. Instead of taking a car like a normal person, Fabu insisted that we walk almost ten miles to the cave she wanted me to so desperately see. The sun was still high in the sky, letting me now that we still had time before the sun started setting.

"Fabu, why are we going to see this cave? Is there a real reason or, did you just want to spend time together?" As soon as the words left my mouth, I could almost feel her shoulders tense up. She started walking faster leaving me behind on purpose. "Hey, could you plea-"

"Lindelihle, would you shut the fuck up!" She stopped walking and turned around to face me, her coal colored eyes burning with...was she sad? "You've been like a-a dead person for weeks, your mother tells me that you barely come out of your room. Whenever I see you..you just..look like someone took something from you..I don't know you-you just aren't the same."

I stopped walking and froze in the middle of the path we were taking. No one ever said anything about me changing in the village? I thought I was a pretty good actor up-until now, Imose never said anything to me, no one did. Does this that someone actually what happened, does my mother know? I have to get back home and make sure who knows and who doesn't know.

I started walking back towards the way we came, speedily walking up hill. Suddenly I was on the ground face first in the dirt. Did she just do what I think she did? I pushed my self up quickly, and turned around to face her.

"What the fuck is your problem? Do you enjoy knocking me on my ass or is this just your way of saying sorry?" I was fuming. She had no right to push me! Especially when I'm already feeling so bad about everything.

"What's my problem? You're the one with a stick up your asshole ever since last month." She was right in front of my face, forcing me to look at her.

"I don't have to explain myself to you, you're not my mother!" I yelled back at her. Fabu stood still and I saw the gears working in her mind; she was coming up with a response to shut me up. I really need to get away from her before both of us say something that we don't mean. "You don't have anything important to say to me so I'm going to leave now."

I started for the path again and noticed a pain on my knee. Looking down to find out what it was I saw a huge cut almost the size of a small rock. How was I going to explain that to the town doctor? This day was just getting better and better.

"I saw your friend earlier, was his name Jason?" Fabu reluctantly admitted.

"What?" That was unexpected. I hadn't seen him in about a month.

She shuffled her feet on the ground, looking every bit as timid as I felt.

"I followed him when I was gathering more herbs for Jamar. He didn't notice me so I hid in the bushes and followed him," she continued "He was looking for a cave - well that's what he kept saying under his breath at least."

"You want us to go and find him?" I replied, lingering on my words. I was lost.

"Yes! I was thinking he could at least get your mind off of things. After you came from spending the day with him, you looked really happy and care free. I was starting to get worried about you and I thought..." she trailed off.

Why did he need to go to a cave in the first place? Was he in trouble again? I hope not.

"Lets go, this could be fun!" Fabu stopped in the middle of her rambling took my hand and led the way.

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The sun was starting to set now and I was exhausted. I was never this tried and we cut through so many trees and bushes that I was sure my legs were scratched up by now. My leg kept bothering me ever since we passed through a small group of trees that were unusual to say at the least. I remember Fabu and I having a short conversation about them on the way there:

_"I've never seen these trees before Lin, be careful when we pass them they might be poisonous" I nodded my head in understanding and walked through the path anyway. Halfway through I nicked my leg on the trunk of a large tree._

_"Ow! Fabu help me!" I called out to her but she was already too far ahead of me and wasn't coming back anytime soon. "Its alright," I called out to no one. "I'll just...come to you."_

Thankfully I made it back to her without anymore cuts or bruises.

I should tell her about it though. Then again, she'll only get mad at me and think I was making a scene out of it. I didn't want to look at my knee for fear that it might be infected, like I thought I was. Fabu was just a couple feet ahead of me, I could see the ocean from here which meant the cave must have been on shore.

I started jogging towards Fabu, and before I reached her I saw a figure in the distance. It looked male and there was a pile of spiky hair on top that looked vaguely familiar even from the distance between us. Slowing down my jog to get a better look I saw the man walk towards the shore, jump into the water and disappear from view.

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I would LOVE to thank my beta Jazz for helping me with this chapter. Leave a review if you hate it or love...or whatever. Until next time!


	7. Chapter 7

With Fabu still ahead of me I had to run to catch up to her. The distance was short however intimidating in every way, my legs were practically dragging across the ground as I ran. Ignoring the burn in my muscles, I pushed on. When I finally caught up to her she was looking at me with an irritated expression. Probably because it took me so long to catch up with her. I shrugged my shoulders and when I did, it felt sluggish and I could feel my muscles tensing up.

What is going on with my body?

"So, how are we getting into this cave?" I asked, not tearing my eyes away from the spot where I saw the man jump. Fabu looked me over once, and when she glanced at the cut on my knee a look of understanding passed over her features.

She softened her expression. " Are you okay? It took you almost three and a half days to get over here and you're sweating...a lot." She was paying close attention to body, and it made me feel really uncomfortable under her gaze.

"I'm fine, just a little winded but it won't stop us from going into this cave." I told her. "But how are we getting into this cave?" I changed the subject.

"We will have to get into the cave by sea," Fabu started. "Its under water, so we will swim there." We walked up to a cliff. Jumping would take us right in to the ocean, so I wasn't too afraid of shallow waters

As Fabu inspected the best place to jump from, I looked down at myself. There were large sweat stains on my shirt, under my arms. I flushed. What if the man I saw was really Jason? He couldn't see me like this. Looking back down the cliff, I felt some relief. The water at least, would drench me completely.

Looking back up, Fabu motioned me over. Walking up to her position, I could see the waves crashing against bottom of the was a long way to fall, I thought to myself with a sense of trepidation. Fabu intertwined our finger together and looked down at the waves. Unlike me though, fear was absent from her eyes. I could only see excitement.

"Ready?" She asked but I couldn't answer her without my voice cracking. "One, two, thr-"

I took one last breathe for good luck before we hit the water and held it in. The next thing I was felt was the wind whipping all around my body and suddenly the feeling of ice-cold water clouding my vision. I waited until my vision was clear enough for me to see underwater, and I noticed Fabu swimming ahead of me. I swam as close behind her as my worn muscles would allow, after about two minutes of swimming I saw this huge rock ahead of me.

There was a dark hole that was in the middle and Fabu swam right through it. Suddenly I was all alone and started to panic.I reminded myself not to breathe in any water and calmed down. I swam closer to the hole and looked at it, trying to see where she went. As I moved even closer a hand shot out and grabbed me yanking me though the cave.

Landing on the hard and cold wet rock was not pleasant. I started coughing to get the excess water out of my throat I looked up to see who pulled me through.

Fabu was combing her hair to one side with her finger so she could ring the water out. Her back was turned to me when she spoke.

.

"I told you to follow me Lindelihle, not look at the entrance all day." I knew she was angry with me from the tone of her voice, but at least she didn't yell this time. She walked over to me and held her hand out for me to take, I took it with slippery fingers and stood to face her. Her coal colored eyes were dim, the fire was put out and I sighed internally.

She walked around me and over to this cave wall with thick vines covering the grey rock. She was trying to climb it seeing as it was the only way to go besides the way we came, but when her hands grabbed a vine she slipped and fell.

"Shit, my hands are too wet to get up there," She stood up. "Lindelihle, let me stand on your back and I'll be able to hoist myself up."

Why do I have to get on my knee? I'm the tired one with the burning cut on her leg. I looked down at my left knee and inspected the cut, the blood from ealier had been washed away from the water and all I could see was a small cut. I ran my finger along the thin cut and winced as soon as my hand made contact. It was still really sore to the touch, but more than that my knee was starting to swell.

I heard Fabu grunt in front of of me, she had both hands on her hips and was tapping her foot impatiently on the ground. I groaned, brought back to the problem at hand. She was the smaller one so I didn't want to hurt her back by being the one to step on it. But I really didn't have the strength to argue with her so I compiled without a word.

I got on all fours and felt her stand on my back, and was glad she wore flat shoes today. When I felt her get off of me I stood up just in time to see her scramble over the top. She came back into my view a second later and held her hand out, I took it and while she was pulling me up I used the vines to put my feet though helping me get a better footing.

After I was up and standing we walked a short ways through the cave when I saw the man from earlier. His back was to me and was standing precariously on the edge of the cave ground, leaning over as if to get a better look. While I was looking at him from behind I saw that Fabu made a move to go forward. Stopping her with my hand to hold her back was when I realized whom it was in front to me.

"Jason!" I cried out. He let out a yelp and tumbled off the edge and fell forward, once again out of my sight.

* * *

Without thinking I ran after him, forgetting about how tired I was and only focusing on him. Fabu yelled in protest behind me but I paid her no attention and jumped of the edge. Once again I was surround by water. Today is starting to repeat it self a little too much for my liking.

I started swimming as soon as I hit the water, keeping up with Jason making sure not to let him out of my sight. He made it out of the water after a while of swimming and I followed after him. We still were inside the cave but this part was covered by tiny little mushrooms, he walked up another cave wall like I did earlier with Fabu, but he climbed up the vines without my help thankfully. I walked to the bottom of the wall prepared to climb up, but he looked down from the top of the wall and made eye contact with me.

My heart stuttered bit when I looked into his eyes, and when he held out his hand for me to take it, I think it might've stopped. I took his large hand and felt it tighten around mine. He pulled me up the distance easily as if I wasn't really a burden. But I blamed it on me using the vines as leverage again.

When I was at the top I tripped over one of the vines and stumbled into his warm embrace again, his arms enveloped my waist and locked us together for a moment. He smelled faintly of lemon and cinnamon, a perfect combination to my senses. I let go of him suddenly and spoke spilling out my conscience.

"I am really sorry, I didn't know you would fall...I should've known with how close you were to the edge. But I didn't...and you could have been killed...I don't even know where we are Ja-" He cut me off in the middle.

"Do I look hurt Lin?" He questioned bluntly and I didn't comment on the nickname.

"No..but you could've been if-" I had to let him know that I was sorry. He wore an irritated look on his face.

"That's not what asked," he said. "Am I hurt?" He repeated.

"No," I gave in unwillingly.

"Then nothing is wrong, and it wasn't your fault that I fell." He scratched the back of his head, a guilty look on his face. "I shouldn't have been standing that close to the edge anyway, it was bound to happen."

His words made me feel a little better about the situation, but I would find a way to make it up to him later. The silence between the two us was almost deafening.

I noticed many different things about Jason, now that I was looking at him. He had these tattoos covering his arms, all of them were different designs. When looking at his arms I also noticed how much bigger he was than the last time we met. He hadn't gotten fat, but more muscular I looked at his body from head to toe taking him the new differences.

"You like the view?" Jason spoke never taking his eyes off of me the whole time I was looking at him. I felt my face heat up. I looked away and suddenly found my feet very interesting. I turned my face to look at Fabu to see her expression, when I saw no one there. Jason must've saw my panicked expression because he started looking around for a threat. Then my eyes widened in realization.

Did I leave her behind?

I groaned out loud and Jason quirked his eyebrow at me, giving him a look of incredulity as I spoke.

"I left Fabu back at the beginning of the cave."

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**Thanks for reading! If you liked it or not please leave a review it means a lot. And a thank you to my beta Jazz.**


	8. Chapter 8

"I left Fabu back at the beginning of the cave."

Jason's look of incredulity changed into one of amusement as soon as the words left my mouth. First, something that closely resembled a giggle came out of his mouth. Then another one bubbled out of his mouth, he tried to hold it in, but failed. I stared at him in shock when he doubled over laughing, clutching at his sides. Was my careless mistake foolish to him? Soon my astonishment, turned into anger.

Putting both of my hands on my hips I looked at him with a glare. But he didn't seem to notice me instead he just kept laughing, and soon I felt my face heat up with embarrassment.

"Jason, its not funny!" I started. But then I noticed that Jason was standing further away from me, and just where he happened to be standing there were mushrooms with pockets of green gas coming out of them. They were everywhere.. I made a move to come closer to him but he started talking.

"No! Lin...I think it might be...some kind of poison." Was he giggling? I could see how this might be a problem and everything. It would be a little funny, seeing him pass out from laughing. I stared at the gas clouds, hoping that this wouldn't be deadly. I looked over at Jason and saw him staring at his hands, the laughing having finally subsided.

"Whoa, what the hell?" He said to himself in amazement. He turned around and looked at me. "This is new." His pupils were dilated, and he looked a little bit unstable on his any warning he started walking away from me and further into the cave. Panic spread through me, I didn't want him to leave me, but I also didn't want to walk through the gas. Making a final decision, I ran through the gas while holding my breath. But little did I realize the gas was everywhere. So, now I'm standing here, looking at Jason's retreating back.

"Jason! Don't-don't leave me behind." I called after him, giving up and letting the gas get into my system. But he just kept walking. "I better not die from this," I muttered to myself, and went after him..

When I walked through the toxic gas my vision became foggy, like I was dreaming, everything was moving in slow motion. I stayed as close as I could behind Jason as he walked through the cave (he had really long legs!). We had to go under a small waterfall - which was no fun if you ask my hair. We came up to another vine that needed to be climbed and that was when Jason started to really freak me out.

"I do like the red ones myself," he said, though it was obvious his comment was directed at himself. And I had no idea what he was talking about. I haven't experienced anything other than dizziness and cloudy vision. But, by the way Jason is talking to himself, I think he having hallucinations. Jason was mumbling other thing to himself as he climbed the vine. This time when he climbed over the top I didn't see his hand come out for me to grab. I hurried up the vine, ignoring the throbbing pain in my left leg. When I made it over I could see Jason flinching away from the motionless stones as if they were hurting him..

As I stood up to regain my footing, I ran after him and I tripped over my unsteady feet. It was pretty difficult getting up, when your whole body can't function right. Stumbling a little bit when I was finally up again I couldn't see him at all. Oh no, where is he? I and I tried to run, but the closest I could get to was a fast limp. Becoming more worried, I started walking through the cave. Making so many turns in different directions was scaring me.

I looked on the ground for Jason's footsteps, they were faint but it was good enough for me to follow. I was surprised I didn't fall on my ass again. It was when I heard talking in the distance that I sped up my walk, following the sound of it. It was maybe about five minutes of listening before I actually saw him.

"Liza. We're in Bangkok, together, and I can't believe how beautiful you are."

Who was this Liza person? Was she important? Was she on the island too? All these question were running through my head. Making it swim.

Shaking my head to clear it, I did notice that Jason had took off again leaving me alone once more.

Why can't he just stay in one place! First I left Fabu, now him? After I was done ranting in my head, I continued limping after him once more.

When I finally caught up with him again, he was still walking in the same direction, as if he knew the cave inside and out. Not turning into the other tunnels, that lead deeper. His string of good luck had had ran out. Jason was still waking as if he knew where he was going, but that stopped when he disappeared from my view. A small feeling of panic came, but I walked further until I came around to where he fell.

There was a medium sized hole right before me. I peered over to look inside, and saw Jason sprawled out on the cave floor below me.

"Ouch." I could see the distance he fell and it wasn't short. Maybe around seven feet, six. The only thing keeping me from jumping into the hole or screaming his name, was the faint movement of his shallow breathing. Pacing around the hole figuring out what to do, when I heard a small noise further down the cave where we came from.

Ok, maybe now might be the time to come up with a good idea.

Maybe if Jason heard my voice he would wake up? "Jason?" There was a slight jerk in his body at the call of his name, but no other movement followed.

The faint sound of movement was getting closer, and if I didn't act soon it would' turn out good. I sat down near the edge of the hole and let my feet dangle over, holding in my breath I let my self fall feet first onto the cave ground. The first thing I felt was inexplicable happiness, I was alive, and I was next to Jason again without him running away. Then pain, and not just a small pinch but agony that ran through my left foot. I looked down to see what happened and it almost made faint.

My ankle was an array of dark colors, the bruises snaking around it. Not to mention it was significantly swollen as well. I tried to see if I could move it, but I was rewarded with the feeling of a thousand little knives stabbing my foot one by one very slowly. Jason wasn't getting up any time soon, and the smell of that gas was still in his clothes making me light-headed.

I tried to move away from his body, the smell making me drowsy. Yet it was impossible with the state my ankle was in. My head felt heavy as if it was full of stones, so I laid it on Jason's chest. There was heat coming off his body in waves and I felt like I was a sponge soaking it up, sending the chill from being wet away. I was so tired and my knee starting to burn again. It was getting harder to keep my eyes open and the warmth of Jason was like a blanket surrounding me pulling me under...

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**I want to give my beta Jazz a thanks, and I'm sorry if you were waiting for me to upload. If you loved it or hated it, leave me a review!**


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